Best Battles | Keeping in touch with fixture

Although football is, like almost all other sports, on a long hiatus, the MMG sports team has decided there is no reason we cannot still report on the matches which were scheduled to happen - but with a twist, of course.

Best Battles takes you to the most important duel, result or individual performance between the teams in recent memory.

We know our memory is not as good as yours, though, so make sure you let us know where you think we have missed the mark – or hit the nail on the head – and we will publish your thoughts.

Shepparton v Seymour

Preliminary final, 2017, at Deakin Reserve

Shepparton 18.15 (123) d Seymour 7.14 (56)

A year before it would break its premiership drought, Shepparton booked a spot in its first grand final in 17 years in 2017 with a preliminary final demolition of Seymour at Deakin Reserve.

Seven goals from power forward John Bradaric, four from Matt Brett and three from current VFL talent Luke Smith helped the Bears cruise through to the decider with a 67-point win, setting them up to tackle powerful Kyabram in the grand final.

The Bears won every quarter of the clash, building a 37-point lead by half-time before hammering the final nail in the coffin with a brutal 4.5 to 1.1 third term.

Shepparton coach Brad Campbell was thrilled his side had delivered on its potential.

“We’ve put in a lot of work as a club and the playing group was great and I was pleased to see the composure and confidence they had, even under pressure,’’ he said.

‘‘We played our brand of footy and got a fantastic win, now it gives us an opportunity in the grand final.

‘‘Seymour did look dangerous. I reckon we got rolled comfortably in the centre clearances and around the ground at times, but we kept hitting the scoreboard and that allowed us to have all that momentum.’’

Superstar Jason Cole was best for the Lions, while the Bears’ side featured young tall Jordon Butts, who is currently on Adelaide’s AFL list.